Category: Devotion

Back in the dark ages, the year 1985 to be exact, I had the privilege to serve as a Student Assistant Minister at The Wesley Foundation on the campus of Eastern Kentucky University. The Campus Minister, the Rev. Mark Girard, had offered me the position so I could check out what he felt was my calling to ministry. Before the fall semester began, Mark and some of us student leaders went on a retreat to Lake Junaluska (the capital of Southern United Methodism) in western North Carolina. There, nestled in amongst the Smokey Mountains, we spent several days in prayer and planning for the upcoming year. And while there I came across a small devotional book by the Christian writer Lois Cheney (no relation to our former VP). One of my favorite devotions from the book also provides the text with its title. Cheney wrote:

They say that God has infinite patience,
and that is a great comfort.
They say God is always there,
and that is a deep satisfaction.
They say that God will always take you back,
and get lazy in that certainty.
They say that God never gives up,
and I count on that.
They say that you can go away for years and years,
and God will be there, waiting, when you come home.
They say you can make mistake after mistake,
and God will always forgive and forget.
They say lots of things,
these people who have never read the Old Testament.
There comes a time, a definite, for sure time,
when God turns around.
I don’t believe God shed his skin
when Christ brought in the New Testament;
Christ showed us a new side of God,
and it is truly wonderful.
But Christ didn’t change God.
God remains forever and ever
and that God
is
no
fool.

Awhile back I emailed this to a friend, and since I had to type it up, I figured I might as well post it here as well. I love this short devotion, as well as the book from which it is taken. Both this devotion and the book (see below) never fail to convict me.

———-

The ancient Hebrews were so tied by tradition they couldn’t recognize the Messiah when he was right there in front of them,
and he was crucified.

The disciples, who walked and worked with the Christ, were very afraid of him; they hoped, but they also doubted, and they ran that night,
and he was crucified.

The common people mobbed him, showed him their sicknesses and sores,and they threw down an aisle of palms for him and sang to him,
and he was crucified.

His family was embarrassed, and stood outside, and wished he’d come home,
and he was crucified.

Would we crucify Jesus today? It’s not a rhetorical question for the mind to play with.
I believe,
We are each born with a body, a mind, a soul, and a handful of nails.

I believe,
When a man dies, no one has ever found any nails left,
clutched in his hands
or stuffed in his pockets.

1As a deer longs for flowing streams,
so my soul longs for you, O God.2My soul thirsts for God,
for the living God.
When shall I come and behold
the face of God?

I would bet that most of really wish we felt the way that the psalmist who penned these words felt, but there are times we have to admit that most of the time our longings and thirsts are not for the Holy One. No, we long for money, prestige, power, respect, love, recognition . . . and I could go on and on here. The list is almost limitless. Yet even so, can we honestly say the list includes God? Not very often.

So let our prayer be this: God, make me long for your presence in my life. Make me thirsty for your Spirit and life in me.

Of course with a prayer like this, you just might want to cross your fingers or say under your breath, “Just kidding, Lord.” After all, what if God took us seriously if and when we prayed these words? That, my friends, is a scary thought and worth pondering before we commit ourselves to any prayer, let alone the one above.

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The Prodigal Son

And Jesus said, A certain man had two sons: And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living. And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living.

And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want. And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him. And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants.

And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet: And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry: For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.